Confessions under a Tree Short Story
by luvAdventure123
Summary: A simple crossover AU of my original character Damaris and of a character from Lena Coakley's short story Mirror Image enters into the alternate universe of Damaris' world. Keep in mind this a rough copy and this document will be replaced with the edited/proofread version once it has been edited.
English 11 Creative Writing Assignment:

Confessions under a Tree

By: Kelsey Thompson

 _April 20_ _th_ _, 2018_

 _6:47pm_

Damaris entered out into the small backyard of her house from the backdoor, carrying a metal pail and a rag full of soap in one hand while in her right forearm she balanced the dishes from this evening's dinner. She sat down on the back steps and started to scrub away at the grease on the plates. As she focused on her task, a girl with dark hair around the age of sixteen immediately stepped outside slamming the door behind her. Damaris saw her walking over to the tree that had a rope swing attached to one of the thick branches in the backyard, leaning against the base of the tree slowly sliding down to its roots. She had seen her a week earlier, when the gates of Haven Community Nine opened to welcome immigrants that have been rescued by the government's forces. Each of the families that arrived was assigned to the residents in their already established homes for a couple of months, until the builders have set up homes for them. This rule however didn't apply to any resided families in their Haven Community if they had more than five people under their roofs, and Damaris' family was one of the few exceptions. She could agree that Freya and Daniel have enough on their shoulders as it is, raising seven energy filled children and running their local bakery at the same time, although, she tried to help make their lives easier by helping them the best that she could to her abilities.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a voice call out, "Hey!"

Damaris immediately cocked her head looking around at who the dark haired girl was calling out to. There was no one else around outside than just the two of them, so she looked at the girl pointing one of her right fingers at herself with a slightly confused look and she answered, "Yes you! Wanna come over here and take a break?"

Damaris hesitated for a moment lowering her head looking into the stale water of her metal pail seeing her own reflection. She knew she had awkward social issues, since she felt most of the blonde girls around town didn't like partaking in conversing with her since she was the oddball of the Haven Community, having dark hair and all. But it wasn't her fault that she looks the way she does, she was just born like that. She took a long strand of her soft black wavy hair tucking it behind her ear staring at the water one last time, placed the pail aside on the step with the washed dishes and decided to join the girl crossing from her backyard to hers with no boundary or fence keeping her separated from the girl. Damaris sat down on the rope swing slowly rocking her feet as she swayed back and forth pondering for what to try to say to her as she twitched her fingers.

Her voice cracked as she introduced herself, "I'm Damar-"She took a brief cough to clear her throat and then tried again, "I'm Damaris, by the way."

The girl sitting down on the grass giggled a little and she replied, "Alice, Alice Coakley."

Damaris avoided eye contact flushed with embarrassment that her voice cracked in front of Alice. She started to feel a bit uncomfortable, being nearby this girl

"Looks like you had a lot of dishes to wash over there. Do you live in a huge household?"

Damaris giggled a little as she answered, "I….do actually. They're my foster family and I'm the oldest of the bunch. But it is a little challenging to help take care of seven younger siblings. So what is there to know about you? Are you adopted as well?"

"I'm not. I may look different from my family but that's just because this body isn't really mine but it used to be someone's body."

Damaris took a glance at Alice's face in complete disbelief. What did she mean that the person she saw her as isn't really her true self? Damaris felt a conflicting urge of uncertainty of how to respond to what she heard Alice said to her.

"What do you mean your body isn't yours? Did something…I don't know… freakily bad happen to your body?"

"In a matter of speaking. Nine months ago, I died in a crash alongside my dad in my old body. At the time this body, Gail's body, was donated to the hospital and they doctors decided to transplant my brain into Gail's. It felt so weird looking at the world from a different perspective. I was someone entirely new and it took six months to relearn the basics of everything I used to know. Even though I look like I'm sixteen years old in this body, I'm technically fourteen. Before the car crash, I used to be so identical to my sister Jenny and we used to be so close."

Alice's fond smile started to grow sour as she brought her long model like legs closer to her body hugging them with her arms. She lowered her head into her lap and

"Was...Um…everything okay in your home? I mean with your temporary… home?"

Damaris waited for a response to come out from Alice but she didn't move or budge a muscle in her body. Damaris asked her, "Is it, that bad?"

Alice sighed looking back at Damaris and answered, "Don't get me wrong I like it here but it's just my mom and Jenny. I love them, but ever since my brain was transplanted into Gail's body, things aren't the same anymore. It's been nine months since I died and came back reborn in this new body but I Jenny still doesn't trust me, my own mother can't even look at me recognizing that I'm still the old Alice she raised and loved. I was even shocked when Jenny declared that the old me is dead!"

"Look, Alice I-"

Alice got up on her two feet from the tree turning to Damaris and exclaimed, "No don't you dare say that you understand me, Damaris! You're not like me! You don't know what it's like for your family to adapt to my new body, despite that they had all the time in the world to get used to not seeing my old face! Why can't they see I'm still the same person, even though I'm interested in things I wouldn't usually be interested in?! I haven't," Alice turned her back away from Damaris and knelled down on the ground in defeat and continued, "I haven't changed."

Damaris sighed admitting that Alice had a solid point. She didn't understand how Alice felt because she wasn't in her shoes. From the swing she could hear Alice crying gripping her hands into the thick layers of her dark hair in complete despair. Damaris had to try to reach out to Alice to help solve her problem.

Damaris took a huge breath of air out and answered, "You're right, Alice. I don't…know or understand how you feel about your mom and Jenny adapting to your new body. But I'm like you enough to understand what it's like."

Damaris stood up from the swing and slowly approached Alice taking caution in case she would thrash out at her again. Damaris kneeled down to Alice's level and continued, "I found it rough growing up here in this Haven Community to fit in, to adapt. I was judged for being different but in my family, I wasn't mistreated poorly by them because they knew me well. Freya and Daniel helped me to get through my struggles to fit into society. Maybe there's a way that Jenny and your mom can help you readjust into their lives again? They're only trying to adapt and get used to what you're becoming interested in and what you're now capable of in your new body. I know it's been nine months, but they just need time to get to know you again. I mean, it took Freya and Daniel awhile to get used to having me in their lives here in the Haven Community. You just need to carry on and have some patience with them. Do you think you can try to do that?"

Alice sat there for a minute ceasing to cry as she took in all of Damaris' wisdom. She released a relieved breath and wiped away her watery tears with her right hand and used her core to raise her back up to Damaris' adjusted level and gave her a pleasant nod.

"I need to make sure that you do understand. Can you say it?"

"Yes, I do understand. Damaris?"

"Yes A-"

Damaris was interrupted when Alice leaped into her, wrapping her arms around Damaris' back embracing her with a hug. Damaris stood kneeling and she returned the hug to Alice as she whispered to her, "Thank you, so much Damaris. I really needed to hear this from you."

Damaris whispered back in a hushed tone, "You're welcome."

Damaris and Alice's hugging was interrupted when Mrs. Coakley called out to Alice from their back door, "Alice! It's time to come inside for bed!"

"Sure mom I'll be there in a moment," answered Alice and then she turned to Damaris as they helped each other stacked up on their feet, "So, I guess I'll see you around sometime?"

"I guess so. It was…nice meeting you Alice."

Alice walked away from Damaris in a smile and replied to Damaris as she paced up the steps into her house, "It was nice to meet you too!"

Damaris smiled contently that she at least helped give Alice a push to not end up being the one to solve the problem, but to encourage Alice to solve the problem with her family herself. Damaris walked back onto her property taking notice that the sun has set and the moon was rising to its place in the dark painted sky. Damaris grabbed the metal pail and the clean dishes she had left behind near the steps and opened the wooden door that lead to inside her country Victorian like house. She took one last look outside up at the array of shining stars in the night taking a brief but content exhale and closed the door behind her being welcomed by the warmth of her home.

The End


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